Brewmaster

Written by James Kenny.

Because the monk is not officially released yet, I am merely including what is relevant to play a class that is heavily influenced by it. As such you’ll probably want to avoid the Monk Training and Way of the Monk talents until you either have the monk playtest or 13 True Ways is released.

This classes' intent is not to insentivize the actual consumption of alcohol, especially by minors. This class is not intended to offend anyone.

Due to the random nature of this class, balance has been tricky. Feedback at the bottom is welcome.

(Version 1.03, 16/04/14)

Overview

Some heroes fight for honour and glory, others fight for their own pockets, some fight for the health of the world, and others fight for the gods. A brewmaster chuckles at all of them and lives happily in the fact that he fights just to have fun, and earn drinks!

Play style: The Brewmaster is not for the quiet or serious player. It is a class where you are meant to be creative, have fun, and be lighthearted. Mechanically the class resembles the Bard’s Songs or the Fury’s Frenzies, while its base resembles the Monk’s. Various Brews let you emulate the various damage dealing features of other classes, however you have a tenuous control over them.

If you want to play a tank-like character Iron Belly is a must, and Monk Training can allow you to keep your AC up with the other heavy-armor characters. Shot for Shot can help your stickiness, as can Brawler.

If you want to play a heavy damage dealer, Brawler is likely your best bet for raw output, while Shot for Shot will help your accuracy when you’re in danger. My Beer Died or Use Anything can be used to help boost your damage, depending on creativity.

For those just wanting to have fun there is Ben’s Boisterous Brews and Use Anything.

Ability Scores: Brewmasters rely on Dexterity to swiftly strike with their attacks, and Constitution to endure their own beverages. You can add +2 to your Dexterity or Constitution, so long as you have not added to that score with your racial bonus.Backgrounds: Brewmasters, despite their lightheartedness often come from sad backgrounds. Many took to drinking due to the failure of a previous profession. Just about anyone can drink though , an a background related to drinking is a likely asset.

Icons: Brewmasters often have negative relationships due to their activities in the bars of different icons. The Elf Queen and the Prince of Shadows are known to work with them though. The Dwarf King tends to get along well with Dwarven Brewmasters, but other races have to work hard to earn his respect.

Gear

Brewmasters aren’t big on gear. They tend to wear simple, dark clothes (to hide the stains). Traveling Brewmasters often use a staff as both a walking stick and to grant its abilities to their unarmed attacks. Brewmasters tend to carry around many flasks of their brews, as well as empty mugs from memorable places.

You can choose to start with either 25 gp, or if you just finished a particularly rough binge, 1d6 x 10 gp.

Armor

Brewmasters prefer to spend their money on alcohol than restrictive armor. When forced to wear armor, their AC drops along with their accuracy:

Type

Base AC

Attack Penalty

None

12

-

Light

12

-1

Heavy

11

-4

Shield

+1

-2

Weapons

A Brewmaster’s very hands and feet are deadly weapons; called PUNCH attacks for consistency with the monk. A Brewmaster is encouraged to use whatever is available to them, especially if they have the Use Anything talent.

Brewmaster Features

Brews

It may be difficult to grasp, but the Brewmaster is a master of brews. While lesser mortals simply get drunk from alcoholic beverages, a Brewmaster derives mystical power from the ingrediants and effort that went into creating it.

You know a limited number of special brews as dictated by your level on the chart. You can only have a single brew active at once. Drinking one brew immediately ends the effects of the other. Most brews are recharge powers.

At the start of each turn while intoxicated by a brew, you must make a save to sustain the effect. The first time it is an easy save, the second time it is a normal save, and the third time it is a hard save. Hitting with an attack allows you to keep your current position in this progression instead of moving on to the next. If you fail the Brew’s effects end immediately and you can choose to either be dazed for one round or pop all enemies free of you, as well as move all allies away from you to a safe distance as you clear the sluices.

Greater Brews grant you damage features similar to those of other classes, while Lesser Brews give smaller utility or defensive abilities.

All Brews take a minor action to drink. You can take a -4 penalty to initiative to drink a brew immediately when rolling initiative however.

Adventurer Feat: You no longer take the penalty to initiative to drink when rolling for initiative.

Champion Feat:You can have up to two brews active at once, but only one can be a greater brew. You roll only once to sustain all of them on your turn, using the hardest roll. You also take a -2 penalty to the roll for each brew beyond the first.

Epic Feat: You no longer suffer ill effects for failing to sustain a brew, if you want to, though the effect still ends. In addition, you can have as many brews active at once as you want, but still can only have one greater brew

Drunken Two-Weapon Fighting

Since Brewmasters fight with all their limbs, as well as scenery, you can always be considered to be fighting with two weapons, even when you’re barehanded. As indicated on page 168 of 13th Age, the principal advantage of ‘two-weapon fighting’ is that you get to reroll a natural 2 you roll with your melee attacks, sticking with the reroll. Unlike the normal dual-wielders, your rerolled attack must target a different enemy if able.

Unarmed Combat

Like the monk, Brewmasters don’t use weapon damage dice unless they are using a basic ranged attack. Because the Brewmaster is often too intoxicated to care about monk forms, this means the Brewmaster primarily depends on the Monk’s PUNCH attack, which deals 1d8 damage. While using a magic weapon, monks add the weapon’s attack and damage bonus to their attacks, and they can use that weapon’s power.

Brewmaster Talents

Choose three of the following class talents.

Barkeeper

Choose 2 of the following

A) Your brewmaster abilities now use Charisma instead of Constitution. Any time an element of the brewmaster class refers to Constitution, you can replace that element with a reference to Charisma. This includes AC.

B) Take two additional points of backgrounds; you can use these additional points to raise a background that has something to do with brewing, social skills, or gathering information up to the usually impossible rating of +6.

C) Take a single point of relationship with the Dwarf King OR the Prince of Shadows. Add the point to a relationship you already have up to your normal maximum, or start a new one— positive, conflicted, or negative.

Ben’s Boisterous Brews

Come up with a number of names for your brews that evoke images of heroes, great deeds, and legendary (drinking) stories. When you use a brew, you can declare its name out loud as you drink it. Your DM should add some small bonus, much like the Wizard’s Vance’s Polysyllabic Verbalizations talent.

Brawler

For your basic attacks, instead of PUNCH attacks, you can use BRAWL attacks, which deal 1d10 damage. This does not affect any monk forms you have.

Adventurer Feat: If you hit an enemy with a BRAWL attack, until the end of your next turn, it is instead a hard save to disengage from you.

Champion Feat:Once per battle, you can reroll a missed BRAWL attack.

Epic Feat: Your BRAWL attack now deals 1d12 damage.

Clouded Mind

Whenever you roll an odd fail on a saving throw to remove an effect or sustain a brew, you can reroll the save. You cannot reroll the reroll.

Adventurer Feat: On your turn, you can choose to apply this talent to a Disengage check instead of the saves at the end of your turn. You still get the bonus of brew sustains.

Champion Feat:You no longer choose, you get both!

Epic Feat: If the reroll is a natural 20, you can apply the effect to a poor engaged enemy.

Iron Belly

Your base HP is now 8+Con instead of 7+Con and your recovery dice become 1d10 instead of 1d8.

Adventurer Feat: You gain a +1 bonus to AC

Champion Feat:You gain a +1 bonus to PD

Epic Feat: You gain a +1 bonus to MD.

Madhouse

When an engaged enemy rolls a natural 1 with a melee attack against you, you can make the enemy repeat the attack against another valid target of your choice.

Adventurer Feat: You can add the escalation die to the enemy’s attack. If the enemy’s attack deals no damage on a miss, it deals miss damage equal to your level on a miss.

Champion Feat:As long as the target is engaged and makes an attack roll against you, it doesn’t matter if it’s a spell, attack, or some other ability.

Epic Feat: You can now use this talent on any ability that rolls a natural 1 against you. This includes ranged attacks.

Monk Training

You cannot take both Monk Training and Mystic Brews

You gain a form from the Monk class of your level or lower. You can take feats to improve it. You can switch it out when you gain a level. However, on a turn in which you fail to sustain a Brew, you cannot use a monk form.

Adventurer Feat: You use Constitution in place of Wisdom for Monk forms.

Adventurer Feat: You can now use a monk form on the same turn you failed to sustain a brew.

Champion Feat:Gain a second monk form.

Epic Feat: Gain a third monk form.

My Beer Died!

When you fail to sustain a Brew, you can choose to enter a rage. Your next attack rolls twice and takes the higher roll. If both rolls are higher than 10 and it’s a hit, it is a critical hit! You cannot drink another brew before making the rage attack. You should also probably yell out “My Beer Died!”.

Mystic Brews

You cannot take both Monk Training and Mystic Brews

Choose another spell-casting character class. You can choose one spell from the spell list of that class, of your own level or lower, as an extra spell you know how to cast. You can even improve the spell you’ve jacked by taking its feats up to your tier, if it has any. You can only use this spell while under the effects of a brew.

Adventurer Feat: You can use your Constitution as the ability score that provides the spell’s attack bonus and damage bonus (if any). Other ability score references remain unchanged.

If you chose a spell from the wizard, you also gain three cantrips of your choice from the wizard; you can cast them like a wizard who lacks the Cantrip Mastery talent.

If you choose to jack a spell from the sorcerer class, you also gain the sorcerer’s dancing lights class feature.

You only gain the benefits of these new features and spells while intoxicated either by Brews or mere normal alcohol.

Champion Feat:Gain a second spell.

Epic Feat: Gain a third spell.

Shot for Shot

When an enemy hits you with an attack, you gain a +2 bonus to your next attack roll against it.

Adventurer Feat: Enemies engaged with you take a penalty to disengage checks equal to your Dexterity modifier. The penalty doesn’t apply if you are stunned, grabbed, or otherwise incapable of making an opportunity attack.

Champion Feat:You gain a +2 bonus to opportunity attack rolls.

Epic Feat:You also increase your critical range by 2.

Use Anything

Once per battle, you can spend a quick action to grab a piece of the battlefield to use temporarily as a weapon. When you make a basic attack, you can choose to use what you grabbed, describing how you plan to use it. Your DM can then assign an appropriate benefit. Examples including dazing by smacking them with tables, or causing them to take 3 x level ongoing damage from broken bottles. If you have an alternative but fun idea for a use of said item, you can instead work with your DM to use it for that instead. After benefiting from the object, the item breaks or becomes otherwise unusable.

Adventurer Feat: Items grabbed with Use Anything can now be used for 2 attacks before breaking.

Champion Feat:You can grab a second item and combine it with the first in an interesting way. This should result in greater effect.

Epic Feat:There is no limit to how many items you can grab and combine into some monstrosity of drunken mayhem. Your can still only benefit from it twice a battle unless you really impress your DM with what you made.

Way of the Monk

You can choose a talent from the Monk class. It cannot be a Deadly Secret, as you can’t be trusted to keep it a secret while drunk. You gain the talent and can take its feats to improve it. Anything that does stuff with Ki does nothing unless you have Ki Brew active.

Adventurer Feat: The talent now uses Constitution in place of Wisdom.

Brews

You can spend the following feat to specialize in brews. You can take this feat multiple times, but never for the same brew.

Adventurer Feat: Choose one brew you know. Reduce the roll needed to recharge that brew by your Constitution modifier.

Level 1

Special: You should only take this brew if you have the Mystic Brews talent. At the end of a battle after having used this brew, roll to recharge this brew using the last spell you cast’s recharge roll or this brew’s, whichever is lower, as one roll. If you succeed, both are recharged, even if the spell does not normally recharge.

Recharge 18+

Effect: After casting a spell, your melee weapon attacks deal an additional +1d4 damage of a damage type associated with the spell (use Force if nothing seems appropriate) until this brew’s effect ends.

Epic Feat: You can choose which spell you used this battle gets used for this brew’s recharge effect, instead of the last.

Party Brew

Lesser Brew

Recharge 16+

Effect: You deal additional damage equal to the number of allies engaged with the target. Double this number at level 5+, and triple it at level 8+.

Serene Brew

Lesser Brew

Recharge 12+

Effect: Once per round, you can reroll a missed attack roll.

Tiger-Eye Brew

Greater Brew

Recharge 16+

Effect: Once per round when you make a Brewmaster or Monk form melee attack, against an enemy engaged with one or more of your allies, you can deal +1d4 damage if your attack hits.

2nd level brewmaster +1d6 damage.

4th level brewmaster +2d6 damage.

6th level brewmaster +3d6 damage.

8th level brewmaster +5d6 damage.

10th level brewmaster +7d6 damage.

Adventurer Feat: Tiger-Eye Brew also works the first round of combat against enemies with a lower initiative than you.

Champion Feat: Tiger-Eye Brew also works against enemies who are confused, dazed, vulnerable to your attack, or weakened.

Epic Feat: Once per battle when you miss with an attack that would have allowed you to deal Tiger-Eye Brew damage, replace the normal miss damage with your full Tiger-Eye Brew damage.

Welcoming Brew

Greater Brew

Recharge 16+

Effect: The first time you attack each enemy with a melee attack during a battle (including the first mook of a mob), deal +1d8 additional damage to that creature if you hit.

2nd level brewmaster +2d6 damage.

4th level brewmaster +2d8 damage.

6th level brewmaster +4d6 damage.

8th level brewmaster +4d10 damage.

10th level brewmaster +7d8 damage.

Adventurer Feat: Once per battle when you miss with an attack that qualifies for Welcoming Brew, you can still attempt to use Welcoming Brew against that enemy later in the fight.

Champion Feat: Once per battle, reroll your Welcoming Brew damage dice and abide by the reroll.

Epic Feat: Once per battle, reroll an attack that qualified for Welcoming Brew.

Windfury Brew

Greater Brew

Recharge 16+

Effect: Your melee attacks target 1d2 engaged enemies.

Epic Feat: 1d3 engaged enemies instead of 1d2.

Level 3

Flurry Brew

Greater Brew

Recharge 16+

Effect: Your PUNCH can become 1d6 JAB attacks. Once per round, if you roll a natural even with a JAB attack, you can make a second basic attack using a JAB. Just to be clear, you don’t benefit from the Brawler talent if you choose to use the JAB attacks.

Adventurer Feat: Your second attack gains a +2 attack bonus if it is against a different target.

Champion Feat: Once per battle, you can make the second attack after an odd attack roll.

Epic Feat: Each turn, you can pop free of one enemy before one attack roll that is part of a Jab attack. You can also use your move action in between your two attacks if you wish.

Level 5

Blood Brew

Lesser Brew

Recharge 16+

Effect: You may only drink this brew while Staggered. When you are staggered you gain a +2 bonus to all attack rolls and reroll 1's on damage rolls. Critical hits from enemies do not deal any additional damage to you.

Lightning Brew

Lesser Brew

Recharge 16+

Effect: All enemies engaged with you suffer lightning damage equal to twice your Constitution modifier each round. Triple at epic.

Thundering Brew

Lesser Brew

Recharge 16+

Effect: Your attacks that target engaged enemies now work on nearby enemies. On a natural even hit with these attacks you also pop enemies free. These attacks now also deal Thunder damage. However if you make an attack against a nearby enemy that isn’t engaged with you, it does provoke opportunity attacks.

Champion Feat: You add your Constitution modifier to all defences against Opportunity Attacks while this brew is in effect.

Level 7

Regenerating Brew

Lesser Brew

Recharge 16+

Effect: You may only drink this brew while Staggered. You regain hit points equal to your level each turn at the same time you would take any ongoing damage.

Quaking Brew

Lesser Brew

Recharge 16+

Effect: When you hit with an attack, the target becomes Vulnerable (save ends).

Level 9

Overpowering Brew

Lesser Brew

Recharge 16+

Effect: You are immune to negative effects.

Unending Brew

Greater Brew

Daily

Effect: As long as you roll odd with a melee attack, you can keep repeating that melee attack until you roll even.

Change Log

1.03

Added Barkeeper Talent

Added Mystic Brew to help out the Mystic Brews talent.

1.02

Base AC lowered to more normal amount.

Madhouse no longer uses an interrupt action due to the small enough chance as it for it to trigger.

1.01

Windfury Brew now recharges

Monk Training now has a second adventurer feat available

References to Monastic Training were fixed to Monk training.

1.00

Finished introductory text.

Published to online repository.

0.03

Changed how brews are sustained

Old 16+ sustain brews are now “Greater Brews” while the rest are “Lesser Brews”.

Clouded Mind was buffed to help Brew Sustains

Regenerating Brew was buffed

Quaking Brew now works with things other than specifically melee attacks

Cool. Part of the inspiration was the old Drunken Master prestige class (mostly the use anything talent). It was WoW I must admit that got me into the brewmaster idea, though this class doesn't really resemble its warcraft equivalent or my 4e adaptation beyond name. I felt 13A was a great system to bring out the lighthearted attitude this kind of class is meant to have.

I'm not sure how balanced this thing is in play, unlike the Avenger I don't have someone currently playing one.